WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The owners and managers of a Richmond, Virginia,
apartment complex who were accused of refusing to rent to African Americans have agreed to
a $480,000 settlement -- the largest settlement ever in a rental discrimination case in Virginia,
the Justice Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced
today.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo and Bill Lann Lee, Acting
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, made the announcement at a Richmond news
conference.

Today's agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond, requires the owners and
managers of Wedgewood Village Apartments to pay $480,000 in damages and civil penalties
for allegedly discouraging African Americans from renting apartments for the past eight years.
Additionally, the owners and managers have agreed to develop a fair housing policy, require
their employees to attend fair housing training, and hire an independent consulting firm to
conduct self-testing of the apartment complex over the next three years.

"This settlement should send a message to everyone that HUD and the Justice
Department will strictly and vigorously enforce the law to protect the rights of every family in
this nation to live in any neighborhood and in any home they can afford," Cuomo said.
"Housing discrimination is an ugly part of American history that has no place in this nation
today."

"Denying individuals housing on the basis of their race will not be tolerated," said Mr.
Lee. "This case is an example of how discrimination can and will be detected in spite of a
housing provider's attempt to conceal it ."

Cuomo added that HUD will be able to continue moving aggressively against housing
discrimination as the result of an increase in the budget of its Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity from $30 million in the 1998 fiscal year to $40 million in the year that began on
October 1, 1998. HUD began a crackdown against housing discrimination last year.

The agreement, which must be approved by the court, requires the owners and
managers of Wedgewood to pay $480,000 in damages, including: $200,000 to compensate any
persons identified as victims of the alleged discrimination; $195,000 to Housing Opportunities
Made Equal, Inc. of Richmond (HOME), a fair housing group which tested the apartment
complex; $45,000 to compensate two African Americans who filed complaints; and, $40,000
in civil penalties to the U.S. Treasury.

The defendants, all of whom agreed to the terms of the settlement, include Richmond
10-72, Ltd., Provident United Inc., Provident Group Co., John W. Helgerson, Michael
Braunstein, all of Columbus, Ohio, and Rita Baines Lewis of Richmond.

"This case is an example of how the citizens of Virginia will not stand idly by when
they discover a housing provider is discriminating," said U.S. Attorney Helen Fahey. "In this
case, citizens stepped forward when they believed others were being denied housing because of
their race."

Larry B. Hall, Jr. and Rokena Dunaway, who filed complaints with HUD, said they
were denied apartments at Wedgewood because they are black.

Hall said that when he tried to apply for an apartment he was told falsely by an
apartment employee that to live in the complex a person had to be either a single parent, a
Social Security recipient, or handicapped. He said he was not given an application. Later, he
said he learned from a white friend living at Wedgewood that a white applicant was not given
the same requirements and was given an application.

Dunaway, a mother of two children, said she was discriminated against when she
sought to rent an apartment at Wedgewood. Dunaway said she was told she would need an
income above $20,000 and that she would be on a waiting list for three to six months to get an
apartment. She said white applicants were given identical two-bedroom apartments ahead of
her without a wait. She was finally given an apartment after six months.

Discrimination was also alleged by HOME, which sent three black women and three
white women to Wedgewood, posing as prospective tenants. The women, who represented
themselves as married with one or two children, found a consistent pattern of discrimination.

The investigation into the practices of Wedgewood began after HOME received
complaints from white tenants of the apartment complex alleging that management was
discouraging African-Americans from applying for apartments there.

Last November, HUD issued a charge of discrimination on behalf of HOME, Dunaway
and Hall against the management and owners of Wedgewood. HUD also issued an order that
barred Lewis from employment by any company receiving HUD housing assistance and
blocked the owners and managers of Wedgewood from receiving new financial assistance for
housing developments until problems there were fully resolved.

The matter was referred to the Justice Department, which filed the case on behalf of the
two individuals. The Justice Department later expanded the case to allege that the defendants
engaged in a broader pattern of discrimination.

The government alleged that evidence obtained from persons who applied for
apartments and persons who lived at the apartment complex showed that the defendants
engaged in a pattern of discrimination in the rental of apartments for a period of over eight
years.

Individuals who believe they may have been victims of housing discrimination at
Wedgewood Village Apartments should call the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the
Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743.

People who believe they have been harmed by housing discrimination can file
complaints with HUD at 1-800-669-9777.